Vernon's last 25 years of football

Looking back at the Lions' gridiron success since the 2000 season

Author’s Note: During the offseason, we’re going to take periodical looks at each area team’s past quarter century of football success (from 2000-24) using the same metrics. Vernon is our first area school.

Among the area’s blue-blood high school programs, Vernon probably has had the most ups and downs these past 25 years.

How many two-time state semifinalists have a losing record overall? Or a better playoff win percentage than overall win percentage? Vernon has four double-digit victory totals since 2000 but also the same number of seasons with nine losses or more.

Keith Hall’s tenure was the most successful as he took over for Mike Portwood in 2003 and led the Lions to a 48-37 record in seven seasons. Vernon went at least four rounds deep in three of those years, something they haven’t done since.

That doesn’t mean it’s been all bad for the Lions. Mark Bateman was promoted in 2012 and helped return Vernon to its run-based roots, which led to 27 victories from 2012-14.